News

Bachmann backs waterboarding; insists harsh interrogations be restored

Photo:

Nov 14, 2011 at 6:44 am

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is accusing the Obama administration of committing "strategic blunders" that have hampered U.S. efforts to combat terrorism.

Bachmann concedes that President Barack Obama achieved a "tactical" success in killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and in taking out some of his cohorts in drone attacks.

But she tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama "is allowing the ACLU to run the CIA," complaining that it was wrong to ban waterboarding.

Bachmann argued in Saturday night's foreign policy debate for reinstituting waterboarding. She said the intelligence community has been deprived of the ability it once had to get vital information from detainees in the war against terrorism. The St. Cloud congresswoman said holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba isn't a long-term solution and that "we have no jails for terrorists."